The record scratch from Marina's DJ both seemed quieter than usual. The noise that played every time they announced the maps for the day was not as annoying as it was before. The voice of Marina sounded far away and distant as well. Even though they were a few feet away from each other, the octoling sounded as if she was in another room. The beanbag chair Pearl always sat on was not as comfortable as she remembered. The yellow and pink colored fabric no longer held the softness it once had. The giant TV behind them seemed foreign and odd. The white metal was not as a shiny as it once was. The screen was blurry and out of focus. It all seemed different and out of place to Pearl.
The whole scene in front of her felt like a dream where everything was different by one slight detail. Even Marina, her longtime friend and co-host of Off the Hook, looked odd. Her latex outfit was the wrong shade of black and her hair tentacles were duller in color. All of these things were being observed by Pearl who sat there, confused. She looked down at herself and saw that her clothes were not the same. Her fingerless gloves were gone and she couldn't feel her crown on her head.
"It all feels … surreal," She mumbled to herself. Deciding to take a look outside, the short girl shifted in her chair to get a better look at the view behind her. Outside, there were numerous squidlings who were moving very slowly. They had blurry outlines and their faces were unrecognizable. In fact, the entirety of Inkopolis Square seemed different. It was covered in a weird haze, almost as if a dense fog has descended upon the area. Pearl tore her eyes away from the sight, feeling unnerved at the strangeness of it all.
She glanced over at Marina, who had stopped moving entirely. The taller girl appeared to be frozen in time while in the middle of speaking. Her right hand was raised and looked like it was pointing at something on the screen in front of her. Pearl took a look at the screen but only saw a jumbled mess of pixels that were making odd shapes. Eventually, the screen flickered and turned off by itself. Surprised, the yellow-eyed girl swiveled her head around, trying to see if anything else change. Marina, who, just a few seconds ago was sitting at her booth, was now gone. At the sight of this, Pearl felt her heart sink, worry for her dear friend beginning to fog her mind.
"Marina!" She called out, hoping her friend was still nearby, "Marina, where did you go?" She looked behind her and saw a similar scene. All of the squidlings in Inkopolis square were nowhere to be seen as well. At that point, Pearl was filled with a feeling that everything was wrong.
"What's happening?" She frantically said to herself, trying to make sense of all of this. A growing sense of anxiety began to creep into her mind. The pink colored squidling now realized that she was alone in this already desolate area. She began to vigorously shake her head in an attempt to wake up from this obvious nightmare.
"It's all just a bad dream. None of this is real." She kept repeating to herself. All of a sudden, the room began to shrink. The walls felt like they were closing in on the slim girl. The lights that illuminated the area were going out one by one, slowly enveloping the area in darkness. When the last light went out, Pearl let out a shocked gasp. Her entire field of vision was obscured by complete darkness. She couldn't even see her own two hands in front of her.
"Marina where … where are you?" She said again, feeling her voice being to quiver. She wrapped her arms around herself but it did little to alleviate her distress. The squidling began to feel tears streaming down her face. She wanted her friend to be there with her to make the dream a little less frightening. She longed to hear the comforting words of the taller girl and feel her arms embrace her in a comforting hug. But none of these came and instead, Pearl sat there for what felt like an eternity.
" … Pearl … " Said a familiar voice somewhere from the darkness. The yellow-eyed girl tried to find where it came from but saw nothing but blackness. Eventually, the voice spoke again but it sounded clearer.
"Pearl!" Out of nowhere, the squidling felt a hand grab her shoulder and was awoken from her nightmare. She let out a startled shriek and was faced with the sight of Marina who had a worried look on her face. The shorter looked around and saw she was in a room that was almost empty except for a couch, the one Pearl was sitting on right now.
"Pearl are you ok? It looked like you were having a nightmare." Said Marina, worry lacing her voice. The yellow-eyed girl simply stared at her friend for a while, her mind trying to figure out if what she was seeing was real. After a while, her mind caught up to what was happening and was filled with immense relief. The shorter girl quickly embraced her friend, the nightmare she just experienced forgotten now that her friend was there with her. The octoling let out a surprised gasp at the sudden gesture but soon returned the hug. For a while, the two of them stayed in that position. Pearl felt fresh tears run down her face but these were out of happiness instead of sadness.
During the entire time, Marina stayed quiet, wanting the pink colored squidling to calm down before she asked what was wrong. Eventually, the shorter girl realized that she had been hugging her friend for too long. She let go of the octoling and felt embarrassment wash over her. It didn't help that a slowly growing blush appeared on her face as well. She looked at the face of Marina and saw a wide smile on her face which made her blush deepen.
"Feeling better?" She asked, amused at the sight of an embarrassed Pearl. The girl in question let out a slightly annoyed huff while averting her gaze but appreciated the gesture nonetheless. The green-eyed girl couldn't help but giggle at her girlfriend's antics since she was always a bit hard headed. Wanting to reassure the shorter girl, the octoling wrapped her arms around Pearl again, making sure to keep a tight grasp.
"Don't worry, we're the only ones here." She gently whispered into her ear. The squidling didn't say anything but didn't try to get out of Marina's embrace either. After a while, Pearl let out a defeated sigh and eased into the hug while returning it at the same time. She could feel all her troubles melting away and felt genuinely content in her current situation. She didn't want to remember her dream and sensed Marina understood this as well. However, there was uncertainty in her mind about how she got here in the first place.
"What happened?" She asked in a quiet tone. Her mind was a bit hazy and the last thing she could remember was falling asleep on a couch. Besides that, much of the day was lost to her.
"You almost collapsed because of a cold. When I saw you this morning, you could barely walk." Marina responded. The mention of being sick brought back some of Pearl's memory like a puzzle piece falling into place. She remembered getting caught in the rain that day. The weather app on her phone said there was no chance of rain, which prompted her decision to not bring an umbrella. Unfortunately, it began to rain right as she was going home for the day which resulted in her clothes getting completely soaked. When she did manage to get home, she was drenched from head to toe. Pearl changed out of her clothes right away but still felt lingering coldness.
"I tried convincing you to rest but you refused, insisting that you were healthy enough to do Off the Hook." The green-eyed girl said, remembering what happened only a few hours ago. At the mention of this, the yellow-eyed girl felt guilt build in her stomach. She didn't like worrying Marina and the fact that she didn't remember all of it made her guilt worsen.
"When you stumbled and fell out of nowhere, I knew your condition worsened. I decided to take you to this room to rest up," The room that the octoling mentioned was a room located at the back of the building, the same building that had the set of Off the Hook. It was off to the side and was rarely used which made it the perfect place for her to place Pearl. Conveniently, there was already a couch in the room left behind from a previous set.
As Marina finished explaining the situation to Pearl, she began to shift in the embrace which went unnoticed by the shorter girl who was too busy processing what was being said. She failed to react in time when she felt something press against her forehead. The squidling lifted her gaze which was previously on the ground and saw that her girlfriend's face was only inches away from her own. Their foreheads were pressed together and the octoling's face was scrunched in concentration. This resulted in Pearl's previous blush to return full force.
"Well, looks like your fever has gone down." She said after a while of intense staring from her part. If they would have been in a public place, the yellow-eyed girl would've been against such an action but since they were alone, it meant they could get away with this. Marina, who saw the look on her girlfriend's face, seemed to understand what she was thinking.
"Do you still want to keep our relationship a secret from everyone?" She asked with a hint of hope in her voice. Pearl stayed quiet though, reflecting back to what she said a month ago. The two of them were still new as a couple and had only been dating for a month and a half. It was two weeks after their relationship began that the short girl asked if they could keep it a secret. Marina was hesitant at first since she didn't see what was wrong with two girls dating but soon agreed after seeing Pearl's pleading expression. The two of them have kept it a secret since. However, the shorter girl was still having conflicting emotions about the subject.
"Well, it's not like I don't want to but all of our fans will freak out if they knew." She said worryingly. Despite knowing that there is a majority of their fans who would be ok with their relationship, there is still a small amount that would not approve. At the same time, she also knew that Marina wanted to reveal them as a couple. These thoughts were constantly in her mind and made her question her decision to keep it a secret.
"If you still want to keep our relationship a secret, it'll be fine by me." She said caringly while letting out a slight smile. Her words managed to calm the storm raging inside of the shorter girl's head. The way Marina was always so caring and understanding never failed to ease her worries. It was one of the reasons Pearl fell in love with her in the first place. She could still remember the day it happened.
It was during one of the splatfests and it happened while they were performing on stage. When her eyes met the octoling's, she received a playful wink from the taller girl which resulted in a crazy blush for the shorter girl. In hindsight, it seemed like a cliche way to fall in love but she had feelings for her friends way before that. The wink she received was like the final push that made her fall in love.
The next several weeks were filled with awkward encounters and several instances where it was obvious Pearl had a crush on the octoling, despite Marina miraculously not finding out about it. Even her fans caught some of the signs the squidling has shown. There were several rumors that the two of them were dating but it never became anything serious. There was also those who refused to believe it, and they were the same ones who were against same-sex relationships. All of this resulted in Pearl's decision to keep their relationship a secret when the two of them eventually started dating.
The yellow-eyed girl was interrupted from her thought when she felt something warm and soft press against her lips. It took a second for her to realize that Marina was kissing her she but soon happily returned it. It wasn't a tongue kiss but it definitely wasn't chaste either.
"Why did you suddenly kiss me?" Pearl asked when their lips parted. It felt out of the blue and spontaneous but it was still welcomed nonetheless. The taller girl simply let out a small laugh while trying to cover it up with her hand.
"I just don't like seeing my little Perlie pout" She responded innocently. Her response caused the shorter girl to blush again for the third time that day. At the same time, it also caused her to realize something important. The squidling realized that she genuinely loved Marina with every fiber of her being. It didn't matter what anybody said because in the end, the two of them would be happy together and that's all that matters.
"Marina!" She said, the new realization changing her decision to keep their relationship secret.
"Hmm?" The octoling said, confused at the sudden calling of her name. She saw a determined look in her girlfriend's eyes that were only present when she was performing on stage.
"I've deciding to no longer keep our relationship a secret. We'll tell everyone tomorrow." She said proudly with a big grin on her face. When Marina heard those words she too had a big grin on her face. She was so happy that she picked up the shorter girl and spun her around while hugging her tightly.
"Oh Pearl! This is amazing!" She exclaimed loudly. The way she spun her around made the yellow-eyed girl feel like a child but she decided to ignore it for now and returned the hug with full force. Her mind which previously was preoccupied with her decision to keep their relationship a secret know felt like an immense weight was lifted off of it. A new cheerier thought replaced it and made her smile widen more.
I love you, Marina.